Quarterback

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Sam Bradford’s numbers could have looked a lot worse: He completed 21 of 30 passes (70 percent) for 255 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Brian Schottenheimer often had him throwing short, high-success-rate passes. The touchdown pass was a nice floater—over the outstretched arms of a Panthers D-lineman—to a flaring Zac Stacy for a four-yard score.

Good things happened on play-action.

The Stacy score came after a play-action fake to Tavon Austin, and Bradford’s longest throw of the day followed a play-action fake to Stacy. In the middle of the third quarter, Bradford and Brian Quick hooked up on a bomb that traveled about 50 yards in the air. It went for 73 yards.

In relief of Bradford, Kellen Clemens went 2-of-4 passing for 19 yards with a lost fumble.

Running Back

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Zac Stacy continued his tough running against a stout Carolina Panthers front. The rookie rushed 17 times for just 53 yards but added 34 and a touchdown on four grabs. Daryl Richardson needed just one catch to match his rushing yardage total (nine yards) on three attempts, as the St. Louis Rams inexplicably continued to avoid getting him outside on a regular basis.

His longest carry went for 10 yards, which means his other two netted minus-one. He’s not getting enough opportunities to make plays; Richardson has received just six carries and two targets in the last two weeks.

Wide Receiver

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Brian Quick got open for a huge gain in limited snaps, and Tavon Austin paced the team in catches. The St. Louis Rams wide receivers still did not dominate the game against the Carolina Panthers, however. Quick led the team with 97 receiving yards, but he was the only player to cover more than 40.

Offensive Line

Scott Cunningham/Getty Images

The St. Louis Rams continue to deal with injuries to their offensive line, as Jake Long had an injury scare against the Carolina Panthers. He returned to the game, but St. Louis still failed to regularly open up sufficient running lanes.

Sam Bradford was sacked twice while logging his 30 passing attempts. Kellen Clemens was brought down twice more, but he only threw the ball four times.

The line also negated a 63-yard Tavon Austin touchdown and incurred two personal foul penalties.

Linebackers

Grant Halverson/Getty Images

Overall, the St. Louis Rams linebackers played pretty well. James Laurinaitis returned to his perch as St. Louis’ leading tackler, recording 11 takedowns (seven solo) and a sack. The Carolina Panthers had three different rushers reach double-digit carries, but none of them averaged three yards per attempt.

Carolina’s rushing was corralled: The Panthers rushed 38 times for 102 yards.

DeAngelo Williams and Greg Olsen caught all five of their targets for 66 yards but did not score.

Defensive Backs

Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports

Janoris Jenkins didn’t fare well against Cam Newton’s No. 1 target in Steve Smith, but the St. Louis Rams couldn’t stop the Carolina Panthers' passing attack, regardless of who the target was. Newton was 15-of-17, throwing the ball for 204 yards and a touchdown. His passer rating was 136.3, in large part because he averaged 12 yards per toss.

All five of his targets averaged 11.7 yards per catch or more. Each caught a ball for at least 18 yards.

The DBs also accrued two defensive holding penalties, could have added to the Rams’ unnecessary roughness woes and exhibited extremely poor tackling on Smith’s touchdown.

Special Teams

Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports

The bright side of this loss for the St. Louis Rams is that their special teams units went without penalty. Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey returned three kickoffs for 73 yards, the least of which was 15 yards. Austin added 26 punt-return yards.